There are many geographically isolated population centers that would benefit from having a monorail system connecting them together because monorails provide a quiet and efficient means of transportation. Unfortunately, however, most conventional monorails must be connected to an established and reliable electrical power source such as a power plant, which these population centers either do not have or the power plant they have already operates at maximum capacity.
To overcome this drawback, it would be advantageous to interconnect these isolated population centers with a monorail system that runs on solar energy. It would also be advantageous to use the monorail system as a means of delivering utilities such as electricity to the population centers.
An example of a solar-powered monorail system is described U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,995 to Antosh. The system includes a solar collector formed in the sides of the guideway for powering the trains. The system is also designed to feed any excess energy into an external power utility system. The electrical wiring that conducts the electricity is contained with a solid inner core, which would make it difficult to inspect and repair. Moreover, if this system is located in a remote region devoid of roads, it would be difficult to travel to a site that needs to be repaired.
What is needed is a solar railway system that is used for transportation and as a carrier of utility infrastructure, but also allows workers to easily travel to and access the utility infrastructure, even in remote geographic regions.